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Saturday, February 26, 2011

Corporate America Writing Legislation - Just for You!

For many reasons which people will understand – finding information on who is a member of ALEC is extremely difficult.

Since the private sector members of ALEC co-author legislation and legislation has to be approved by the private sector member of ALEC before it goes out to the State and Federal government for enactment, I thought you might want to know which companies are writing United States legislation for their own corporate benefit.

The most recent Private "Enterprise" information that can be found on ALEC’s private sector membership is from 2005.

Here’s a list of companies from 2005 (who are probably still active - why would they not be?) that are influencing and actually writing and approving legislation that is being introduced in every State in the US.

Pinnacle West Capital CorporationPrison Fellowship Ministries, they run the Interchange Freedom Initiative

Quaker Oats

National Association of CharterSchool Authorizers (NACSA)Sears, Roebuck & Company

Service Corporation International

Taxpayers Network, Inc.

Turner Construction

The Alliance for School Choice The Evergreen Freedom Foundation

The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice

UST Public Affairs Inc.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Women Impacting Public Policy

_______________________________________________________________________ALEC –has a annual meeting that is attended by “more than 2,000 state legislators, private sector members, government representatives, and public policy experts come together for this event to confront the problems facing the 50 states”(Wiki)

ALEC – brings together private sector companies – such as Koch Industries and Walmart, for the purpose of“issues are debated by task forces of members, and policies adopted.”AND“ALEC “model bills” (aka Model Legislation) are introduced in task force meetings and voted on by ALEC members at each of three national meetings. Public sector (state legislators) and private sector (companies, foundations and nonprofits) members vote on each model bill separately”(Wiki)

What this means is that private sector companies – such as(but not limited to) right wing companies such asKoch Industries and Walmart -are writing “model legislation” that legislature members then introduce as State and Federal bills.Some of the “model legislation” are held on a public web site.I’m sure in the “members only” area of the web site more controversial “model legislation” is kept, for members “eyes only”, for legislative members to “copy, print and present” as bills in their State or at the Federal level.

“Our members join for the purpose of having a seat at the table. That’s just what we do, that’s the service we offer. The organization is supported by money from the corporate sector, and, by paying to be members, corporations are allowed the opportunity to sit down at the table and discuss the issues that they have an interest in.” Dennis Bartlett, ALEC, 1997

HELL they are not only buying a seat at the ALEC table,

They are buying a hidden seat in every State legislature.

They are buying a hidden seat in the Federal government.

They are writing “Legislation”.They are subverting democracy.

Walker, Kasich, Koch, WalMart, Wal-Mart, Coors, Helmer, UK Parliament

International Readers – this is not a US problem only – there is a member of the UK parliament that belongs to this organization and ALEC has stated that they are planning on going international“This is why ALEC aims to apply for membership as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in consultative status with the UN.… ALEC will gain the ability to craft an international agenda, publicly repudiate misinformation, and begin identifying and connecting with allies we have not yet even met. While both getting our message across and ensuring that it does not fall on deaf ears are labor- intensive tasks, both are also critical to the survival and expansion of our international outreach.